Car theft is a thriving international business. Known in the art to deter theft are electronic motion detectors which trigger a 130 db siren inside the car engine compartment as well as flashes the car lights. Also known in the art are anti-rotation and steering wheel vandalism protection systems. The closest known prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,149 (1998) to Winner, Jr. Winner, Jr. teaches the use of two centrally connected pie-shaped plates to cover about 3/5's of the steering wheel. The plates are cut-resistant and further support an anti-rotation handle which is designed to abut the windshield or other car interior structures. The anti-rotation handle secures the two plates to the steering wheel, however, since the plates rotate around a rivet 80 (col. 8, line 26), only one size steering wheel can be accommodated by one pair of plates. Therefore, a costly line of various sized plates are needed to meet the markets' demands.
Additionally, no layered security system is disclosed by Winner, Jr. He only teaches a single layer mechanical security system. Also known in the art is a "S.W.A.T." motion detector device which offers a 130 db alarm siren, see U.S. Design Pat. No. D365774. The present invention offers substantial new, useful and non-obvious features over Winner, Jr. First the present invention offers a variable width steering wheel lock. Second the present invention offers two extra layers of built-in security, a 130 db siren, plus a flashing strobe light. All these electronics run on a disposable battery. This device automatically arms and rearms itself after a pre-set period of approximately four minutes. Below follows a summary of related art.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,681 (1998) to Gorokhovsky discloses an anti-theft locking device which has a steering wheel engaging member 30, an end wall 32 covering the steering wheel 12, a peripheral wall 33 extending over at least a part of the outer periphery of a rim 14 of the steering wheel. According to Gorokhovsky, any attempt made within a reasonably short time to make the vehicle driveable will fail because it is not possible to cut or break rim 14 and ribs 16, 18 that are covered by end wall 32 and peripheral wall 33 of the steering wheel engaging member 30 [column 5, lines 45+]. Further, the rim 14 cannot be turned relative to the steering wheel engaging member 30 because stops 34 would interfere with one of the ribs 16, 18. The entire device cannot be turned because of engagement between stop member 24 and dashboard 26.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,001 (1997) to Ho discloses an anti-theft device for a vehicle which includes a casing covering over 200.degree. of the wheel engaged onto a steering wheel of a vehicle for preventing the steering wheel form being rotated and for protecting the air bag from being stolen.
U.S. Pat No. 5,666,832 (1997) to Cunningham discloses an anti-theft device for an automobile steering wheel. Specifically, Cunningham discloses the use of two sleeve halves forming a housing to prevent cutting of the wheel. A locking bar(s) is also provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,067 (1996) to Kim discloses an anti-theft device for automobiles and airbags. Kim discloses the use of hub to protect the wheel and airbag from theft. Kim discloses that the lip of the cover spans at least 120.degree., but preferably 180.degree., around the wheel [Column 2, lines 35+]. A clamshell embodiment is shown in FIGS. 3-6. An electronic alarm is taught as well.